Over at the Daily Intelligencer, Chas Danner has a nice run down of all the different aspects of the fight over Scalia’s successor.  Worth reading in its entirety as it sums up views from others including David Frum, Ezra Klein, and Mark Joseph Stern.  Link:

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/02/gops-plan-to-replace-scalia-may-backfire.html#jumpLink

In more thoughtful ways, Frum and Stern expand on the political, and at least short-term policy, price Republicans are likely to pay for obstruction (losing some cases 4-4, and motivating the Democrat base).  Ezra Klein raises the issue of stress on our constitutional democracy from divided government when in the final year of a Presidential term there is a court vacancy.  Separately, Josh Marshall agrees there are downsides for McConnell to  state bluntly that there will be no vote on an Obama nominee, but that it’s part of a larger trend of normalizing new maximalist political behaviors by conservatives.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/playthings

All of the above strengthens my belief that when (not if) the Republicans block an Obama nominee, there will be a modest but real price to pay in the upcoming election.